The HEAT
Heuristic for Equitable & Adaptive Teaching
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We refer to our model for equitable and ambitious instruction as the HEAT—Heuristic for Equitable and Adaptive Teaching—a concise framework for guiding improvement that accounts for the complexity of instructional practice through a few essential principles rather than extensive & detailed rubrics.
The Heuristic for Equitable & Ambitious Teaching
Isobel illustrating the HEAT and how we think about it. We used to call it the "Student-Centered Equitable Instruction Framework" (SCEIF), but The HEAT has a better ring to it, don't you think?
The HEAT is a model for instruction designed to maximize the opportunity to learn that ALL students experience in the classroom. All students should experience equitable & ambitious teaching that:
Provides tasks that are low-floor, high-ceiling and anchored in grade level standards.
Asks ALL students to think in cognitively demanding ways.
Asks ALL students to make their thinking visible.
Responds to real-time information about student understanding or performance.
Happens in a classroom environment where ALL students feel like they belong, academically and socially.
The HEAT illustrates what we often call "Model 2" instruction (centering task, student thinking & responsiveness), distinguishing it from the "Model 1" instruction (teacher as explainer & arbiter) which remains the dominant paradigm in US classrooms. Here are two resources we've created to support the shift from Model 1 to Model 2 instruction:
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